This invention relates in general to safety belt systems employed in automotive vehicles for restraining passengers in their seats during emergency conditions encountered by the vehicle, and more particularly to safety belt restraint devices employed for restraining a single safety belt or belt webbing employed in such systems in the event of such emergency conditions.
It is presently common practice in the automotive industry to employ occupant restraint devices wherein safety belts employed in the systems are wound upon automatic, emergency locking safety belt retractors secured to the vehicle frame. It has also become apparent that there is a certain amount of safety belt webbing extension encountered on the locking of such retractors due to the tightening of belt webbing about the retractor spool and the extension of the webbing portions stored in the retractor. It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an emergency locking safety belt restraint apparatus which will reduce the amount of safety belt extension following activation of the associated locking means in the event of an emergency condition.
More specifically, it is the object of the present to disclose and provide a safety belt webbing emergency locking apparatus which provides a quick acting positive restraint of the safety belt in the event of an emergency, reduces belt webbing extension after actuation of the emergency locking retractor due to webbing portions about the retractor spool tightening extending about the spool and to provide such a positive restraint on the webbing without damaging the webbing and without interferring with the normal operation of an emergency locking retractor where the same is employed.